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Friday, February 15, 2019

These commercials are as delightfully disruptive as advertising gets. Anything that can get us to root for GM is astonishing, though part of the credit probably goes to Ford's own ad agency, responsible for a recent TV avalanche of humorless, unpersuasive and, above all, obnoxious hard sell hectoring. Na na na na. Na na na na. Hey hey-ay. Go-od-bye!
The ads probably cost a fortune to make and are worth every cent. Some deets from ispot:

Wednesday, February 13, 2019

Sen. Chambers (r) wasn't buying much of what the Alliance
Defense Fund's Matt Sharp was selling last week

NE Unicameral twitter hash tag: #NeLeg
Last week saw the hearing for LB167, Senator Megan Hunt's bill to ban commercial conversion therapy in Nebraska. It lasted longer than 3 1/2 hours and included disturbing testimony from several survivors of so-called conversion or reparative therapy, including Adam Witte (40:33 in the hearing video below), who described the practice as "damaging-to-barbaric, as well as ineffectual" and recounted his experiences, in Nebraska in 1998-9, at a "treatment facility" which waived parental authorization and subjected him, over 15 months, to shock treatments so severe that at one point he passed out and discovered, upon regaining consciousness, that part of his tongue was missing.

Above: the film "Boy Erased" loosely recreated a mock funeral staged by the Memphis, Tennessee group "Love in Action" as punishment for Aaron Aupperle, of Lincoln, who recounted his time in conversion therapy at the 48:15 mark in the hearing video below

Matt Sharp, of the virulently antiLGBT Alliance Defending Freedom swooped into Lincoln last Thursday to testify against LB167, Senator Megan Hunt's bill to ban commercial conversion therapy in Nebraska. (ADF is a very well-heeled organization. It has raked in over a million bucks in Arizona alone from specialty license plates.)
Sharp got three minutes to make his case, like everyone else, but senators then peppered him with nearly half an hour of questions ranging from skeptical to outright mocking.
AKSARBENT published a short wishlist of questions it wished the Judiciary Committee had asked Sharp about his organization, but nobody listens to us.Sharp's testimony, (at 2:27:25 in the video below) centered largely on a recent Florida case, argued that LB167 infringed the (commercial) free speech of counselors. It also engendered a lot of tilted-head skepticism.Senator Ernie Chambers: First of all, Florida law is not binding on Nebraska. An injunction is not a decision by the court on the merits of a case. Have you ever heard of the term "false advertising"?...Well is that protected by the first amendment, to allow you to say anything you want to about any product that you're selling? [An obvious reference to the debunked practice of conversion "therapy" to alter sexual orientation or gender identity.]...This is based on the exchange of money for a service. I'm sure you know enough about federal requirements when it comes to regulation of medicines, as opposed to these quack items that they sell in these stores called "supplements." They're not subject to regulation by the FDA because they don't profess to be medicine. They cannot make any medical claims. It would seem from what you're saying that that violates their right to free speech because they should be free to say anything about their product they choose and if the public accepts it they should be allowed to do it but that's not the law. So when you read this law, you see that it's talking about a deceptive practice. Is that what you read in the law that we're talking about?Matt Sharp: I do understand that... this is putting these conversations under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act. That's correct...Senator Patty Pansing Brooks: So you keep mentioning this Florida case, but the Supreme Court, right?, has twice decided not to rule on gay conversion therapy and one was in 2014 and ... the most recent one was less than a year ago, so you're conveniently not talking about that fact, so would you like to respond to that?Sharp then cited a Supreme Court case ruling that California unconstitutionally burdened an unlicensed pregnancy crisis center's free speech. (You can read the court's decision — and the dissent of four justices — here: https://casetext.com/case/natl-inst-advocates-v-becerra-1)...Senator Chambers: Counselor, I'm concerned about children. I'm concerned about people with power torturing weak people. Have you ever had electrical shock applied to your testicles?Matt Sharp: No I have not.Chambers: How do you think you'd like that?Sharp: I think anyone would be very opposed to that.

Testimony time marks for people mentioned in this post:Witte: 40:33; Skinner 1:41:10; Sharp/Chambers: 2:27:25; Aupperle: 48:15

Chambers: Are you aware that that is considered torture?Sharp: I'm not familiar with the international laws but I believe that is abusive.Chambers: I don't just mean international law — in America. If somebody was found to have put a person in a position to electrically shock his or her, well, his, testicles, that would be considered torture.Sharp: And that's what the court in Florida said. When you're looking at that, if that's what you want to address, do a targeted law towards that. You do not do a broad proscription on all constitutionally protected speech.Chambers: I'm not talking what you said the Florida court ruled. I'm talking about conduct that is embraced in what these people want to do to children — unless you think those testifiers were lying. Do you think they were telling the truth when they talked about what they experienced?Sharp: I do.Chambers: When one said that he was shocked with such a large jolt that he was unconscious and when he woke up, a large chunk of his tongue was missing. You approve of that being done to children, don't you?Sharp: No.Chambers: Do you have children?Sharp: Yes I do.Chambers: Would you agree to let some people in a church tell you they should be allowed to apply electrical shock to your child's testicles?Sharp: I love my children and would protect them with my life.

Ernie Chambers in the 1966 Oscar-nominated documentary,
A Time For Burning. Except for a 4-year term-limit time-out,
Chambers has been a state senator since 1970, the longest-serving
lawmaker in the history of Nebraska's legislature.

Chambers: And if somebody did that to my child, they wouldn't be here talking now. I'd be on trial someplace and I don't think a jury would convict me. Here's what I'm getting to. All of these side issues mean nothing to me. They can be handled in court. But when I know there are children right now with parents so foolish, preachers so lacking in concern, that these children will be tortured for the sexual gratification of adults, then I'll do all I can to stop it. And see, I'm not going to be around to push and play. The schools that were in black communities used corporal punishment against our children, so I got it outlawed in all the public schools in the state of Nebraska. I got a law that made it — even before the U.S. Supreme Court said it could be done — that if somebody was under the age of 18 when they committed a murder, they could not be executed. I didn't wait for the U.S. Supreme Court. I care about young children and I know how adults abuse children. Sex trafficking goes after children because they're vulnerable and a lot of these things happen in churches... Do know what the letters — to get in your territory — do you know what the letters "FCC" stand for?

Sharp: I believe Federal Communications Commission.Chambers: Bingo. Now what is communication? Does that involve speech? Sharp: Yes it does.Chambers: And the FCC regulates that, doesn't it?Sharp: And the Supreme Court has also recently called into question some of those regulations, on the idea that commercial speech is entitled to less constitutional protection. Chambers: Counselor, if you don't mind answering the question, you don't have to obfuscate me. I understand the law. I don't dress like a lawyer but my brain operates like one. Just so — in the interest of disclosure — I have a law degree. Now, are you aware of why these big pharmaceutical firms who advertise their medications on television tell you all the side effects, some of which are fatal? Do you think they do that voluntarily? They were told by the FCC that they cannot advertise products unless they tell all of the side effects.The entire hearing was recorded and uploaded to YouTube (above video) by John Skinner, who also testified before the committee (1:41:10 in the video) in a sharply-worded, factual excoriation of the Nebraska Family Alliance (formerly, the Nebraska Family Council), a virulently antiLGBT organization about which which AKSARBENT has written here, here,here, here, here, and here.

Saturday, February 9, 2019

Without actually articulating Ann Landers's famous dictum, Bill Maher tells Starbucks's political dilettante Howard Shultz to wake up and smell the coffee...

New rule: Instead of saying both parties are equally to blame for the mess we're in, just admit you haven't really followed politics for the last 20 years. Now, everyone is made at Howard Schultz for thinking he can be the Barista-in-chief, but nobody is attacking his central premise, that we need an independent because both sides have become equally extreme...

Maher goes on to provide example after example of GOP fiscal irresponsibility contrasted with Democrat examples of paying down the budget and insisting on paybacks for bailouts. Maher concludes:

When you say they're both equally bad, just know that doesn't make you a sage. It's a stupid person's idea of a smart thing to say. It's a cheat that says you're above it all when you're really just too lazy to tell shit from Shinola.

Here's what we at AKSARBENT wish all of you on the Unicameral's Judiciary Committee had asked Matt Sharp of the Alliance Defending Freedom yesterday during his testimony opposing LB167 which would prohibit professionals from practicing debunked sexual orientation conversion therapy:
1. Your organization is now called Alliance Defending Freedom, but it used to be called Alliance Defense Fund. Did you change your name before or after one of your attorneys, Lisa Biron, was sentenced to 40 years in prison as a convicted child molester and child pornographer after being indicted on federal charges related to the sexual exploitation of her 14-year-old daughter, including taking her to Canada to have sex with a man there? 2. Did your organization pay for false Internet ads accusing the ACLU of calling for porn filters to be disabled in classrooms when actually the ACLU was mounting a Don't Filter Me campaign warning schools not to selectively censor gay-themed NON-SEXUALLY EXPLICIT sites like The Trevor Project, PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) and GLSEN (the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network)?
3. Did your organization tell the IRS that you didn't engage in lobbying in 2013 when you opposed LGBT legislation at least twice that year?
4. Bonus Question! Is it really true that you got on the Arizona Department of Transportation specialty license plate gravy train and raked in over a million sweet bucks from that state's government?

KETV and KMTV are reporting that Senator Megan Hunt withdrew a bill (LB168) defining conversion therapy as child abuse, which it certainly is. From KMTV:

Today, Nebraska Senator Megan Hunt filed to
withdraw a bill that would classify conversion therapy as child abuse.
Hunt said she chose to withdraw the bill with support of LGBTQ+
advocates. Though she has withdrawn one bill, another is still up
for discussion which would prevent licensed medical providers from
administering conversion therapy.

Here's the statement from Senator Hunt:

Lincoln, NE— 2.7.19 — Today, with the support of LGBTQ+ advocates,
Senator Megan Hunt filed a motion to withdraw LB 168, her bill to
classify the provision of conversion therapy as child abuse. “With the
support of many LGBTQ+ advocates, I have made the decision to withdraw
LB168, my bill to classify conversion therapy as child abuse,” Hunt
said. “Conversion therapy, of course, is child abuse, and I believe in
protecting children by holding the institutions and providers of this
abuse accountable. “From survivors of conversion therapy and their
advocates, I learned that parents are often tricked, lied to, and misled
into placing their children into faith-based counseling without the
knowledge that they are subjecting their children to conversion therapy.
I share the position of LGBTQ advocate organizations like The Trevor
Project and Born Perfect that our focus should be on those who
administer these treatments, not on parents. “I believe in educating
parents about the effects of conversion therapy, the predatory nature of
many faith-based counseling centers, and helping parents realize that
being LGBTQ+ is not a choice and that their children should be loved as
they are and do not need to be cured. For that reason, I am withdrawing
LB168. I ask supporters to focus on LB167, my bill to prohibit licensed
medical providers from administering conversion therapy.” LB 167 is
scheduled in the Judiciary Committee today at 1:30pm in the Warner
Chamber at the Capitol.

The well-financed ADF, which used to be known as the Alliance Defense Fund and is now known as Alliance Defending Freedom, swooped into Lincoln in the person of Matt Sharp to oppose any restrictions on conversion "therapy." The ADF has been to Nebraska before; in 2012 it failed to kill LB912 (banning municipalities from passing gay rights laws unless such legislation exists in Nebraska statutes (which would make local laws unnecessary)) and it failed later that year to kill an amendment to the Omaha Charter protecting LGBTs from arbitrary bias.
Sharp said this to KETV: "What this does is kick the client out of the driver's seat and tells them what goals are permissible and which are not, which conversations you can have, and which you cannot."
Megan Hunt said her bill doesn't tell counselors what they can promise unhappy gays, it just doesn't allow them to charge for "therapy" that has been widely debunked by the professional organizations of both psychologists and psychiatrists.

Maynard (Bob "Gilligan's Island" Denver) slyly flashes a nipple to the CBS eye while trying to talk his best buddy Dobie Gillis (Dwayne Hick­man) into taking off all his clothes. Whoever said 1950s television was a vast waste­land obviously didn't know where to look.